53 bodies found in just one county in 10 months.
The dead bodies of 53 illegal immigrants have been found in one Texas county after crossing the border this year. The remains of the 53, mostly Mexican and Central American nationals, represent an increase over 2015 numbers despite an effort by local, state, and federal law enforcement officials.
The Brooks County Sheriff’s Office informed Breitbart Texas on Thursday night that they had recovered the remains of yet another dead illegal immigrant in the fields of a ranch located roughly 80 miles north of the Mexican border. Brooks County is not a border county but is the location of a Border Patrol checkpoint on one of the main human smuggling routes from to inland cities like Houston, San Antonio, and Dallas. These cities are transportation hubs for the human smuggling networks operated mostly by Mexican drug cartels.
“The surge of illegal immigrants coming up from the border is once again resulting in an increase in deaths,” Brooks County Sheriff’s Office Chief Deputy Benny Martinez told Breitbart Texas in an exclusive interview. “What is happening to these people is truly a humanitarian crisis.”
Martinez, who will become the next sheriff of Brooks County in January, said there has been an increase in law enforcement manpower in the county as the U.S. Border Patrol and Texas Department of Public Safety have both stepped up their efforts. “We have seen more and more apprehensions in the county because of more search efforts by these agencies. Rescues are on the rise but the numbers of people trying to cross around the checkpoint continues to lead to death.”
The Border Patrol operates a checkpoint in the middle of Brooks County on Highway 281. Human smugglers attempting to move their cargo northward must either smuggle the illegal immigrants through the checkpoint or, move them on foot around it through neighboring ranches. Forced marches through very hazardous conditions are what has led to the deaths in most cases. In addition to the heat and lack of water, the smuggled aliens must also travel through terrain consisting of sand so soft that 4-wheel-drive vehicles can get stuck. They must also avoid poisonous snakes, scorpions, cactus and thorns – all of which can debilitate a hiker, causing the coyotes to abandon them.